The following has been re-posted from Retro Road Classic - i am going to update this thread with progress reports, thanks to everyone who has helped me out so far.

ONCE UPON A TIME ....

Having reached the grand old age of 44, i discovered that my waist line was trying to catch up with my age. In order to remedy this i have started a diet and now i need to exercise. Having ridden in TT's in my much younger days and put in a lot of miles, i decided to visit the attic and bring down my old bike. It is a Raleigh Rapide from 1983 (30yrs old next year), for those who may not know this bike it was in the same catalogue as the Road Ace. I wiped some dust away and decided to put new tyres and tubes on and see if i could get it up and running. I accomplished this after a visit to a local bike shop.

Unfortunately (maybe not), whilst at the bike shop i bought a new bike! The salesman did not have to try too hard and i am getting a good deal on everything (i need absolutely everything). I will get it next Wednesday and i am rather excited about the prospect but that leaves me with a quandry - what about my old bike?

The details are as follows - 1983 Raleigh Rapide Reynolds 531 frame and i have added parts to it - Shimano 600ax brakes (centre/parapull), Shimano 600ax Rear Mech, Shimano 600ax seat post, Concor Profil aero seat, aero gear levers (perhaps carbon - memory is fading) and the wheels are Mavic rims with Mallard hubs the rear has a helicomatic cassette (perhaps it may be called something close to that).

I have all the original parts except the seat (although it may turn up in the attic). The bike originally had Campag front and rear mechs although not top of the range, Weinmann brakes - not aero, Weinmann wheels and hubs. The paintwork requires attention as it has a few scrapes etc from the many miles the bike has travelled and strangely the touch-up paint i used on it has faded to a yellow - the bike is pearl in colour. The other problem is brake hoods - which have turned from their original skin (gum) colour to black! The black colour may be caused my a fungus type organism and will clean off with a lot of elbow grease but the hoods are starting to crack with old age (like me!) and seem difficult to source on line (unless someone knows different).

I want to keep the bike but my quandary is -
Should i restore it to its' original condition?
Should i try and complete the 600ax groupset?
Should i get it resprayed?
Should i leave it as it is? (i do not like this option)

I would like to get some use out of it - perhaps on my turbo trainer and i do not want it gathering dust.

Any advice about my quandary would be greatly appreciated.

I posted this on another forum and was directed here - thanks to the chap who re-directed me.

As i progress with my build i have posted about various topics - this is a list of links to those topics - this may be of use to anyone (newbies like me) doing a build -

Having posted quite a few queries about the way forward in Retro Road Classic, i have found that this project is not just as easy as i expected. For example, I wanted to keep the old pedals - clips, straps and shoe plates but after some consultation and looking on the net, i found that shoes are almost impossible to get (size 11), original straps are expensive - £25 but shoe plates are available on ebay for around £15. The plates are no good on their own so a rethink was needed.

I have decided to return the bike to its' original state - excepting a few parts which i will modernise to keep it safe and easy to maintain.

This week's problem arose when i tried to remove the bottom bracket and found i needed a special tool to do it - my huge hammer would not work. Tool ordered, tool arrived, cranks removed with very little fuss - thanks to all for your advice about this. Then i found i could not remove the BB - more tools!!!! I am currently pondering my options here, i will probably take it to the LBS and have them remove it and replace it with a sealed unit - one of the modernisation parts.

The main problem with the bike is the paintwork - it is called oyster and i had touched up a lot of scrapes a long time ago. The touch-up paint (Raleigh Oyster) has faded to an ugly yellow and probably the scrapes would have been better left alone but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I have tried to remove it today with mixed results and i am worried that my efforts may cause more problems. A full respray would be a good option but the cost is very hard to justify but it may happen (more lottery tickets purchased!).

Again, thanks to everyone who has advised me - i have a few more pics which i will post when the camera is charged up.

On a final point, my bike maintenance book arrived today - Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance - on first glance it looks great and should help me with my minor problems - and i can use the forum as my wise advisers - for the tricky stuff.

I have the bike stripped except the BB and headset - these i will leave until next week.

These pics show the scrapes to the paintwork in various areas. The pics also show what 15 minutes with Autosol did to one crank, a set of new wheels (which i may use) and the old wheels which i used. The original rims and hubs need cleaned and perhaps rebuilt, i will cross that bridge when i come to it.

I have a pic of the original receipt from 1983 - Christmas prezzie from my father and the owner's manual.

I am still taking advice regarding the paintwork.

Thanks for reading.

Pants wheels ?????

Receipt and Owners Manual

Last edited by TGR on Sun Dec 02, 2012 12:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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